ARGENTINA AND CHILE
Diocese of Chillan

The Latin American Church is living with great participation and through various initiatives the path of preparation for the Jubilee. Despite the diversity of situations that distinguish the regions of the vast continent and on the impetus provided by the recent Special Assembly for America of the Synod of Bishops, the specific Churches have received with great interest the indications contained in the apostolic letter Tertio Millennio Adveniente and have translated them into separate catechetical, liturgical and pastoral aids. From the small Christian groups spread out across the huge territories of the continent to the large parishes in the huge Latin American cities, everyone id fully aware of experiencing a historic moment and therefore of the need to live it intensely.
To continue with the pastoral and spiritual itinerary of the first year of preparation for the Great Jubilee, the Argentine Episcopal Conference was responsible for the translation and publication of the pastoral-missionary aid «The Spirit which is Lord and gives life» and the liturgical aid «Come Holy Spirit», both prepared by the Central Committee of the Great Jubilee of 1998, the year dedicated to the Holy Spirit.

To continue with the publication of homilitic guides, the Episcopal Commission for the Jubilee of the Argentine Episcopal Conference also prepared for the current liturgical year some guidelines for reflection useful for parish priests, religious and animators, in the spirit proposed by the Tertio Millennio Adveniente. In the presentation of the aid dedicated to the four Sundays of Advent, which opened the second year of the preparation triduum, the Bishops highlight how the scheme being followed is in continuity with that of the preceding year, which was largely appreciated and utilised. The first part is composed by a «technical card» which contains historic, literary, philological and exegetic information which allows to gain wider knowledge of the texts proposed by the Sunday liturgy and obtain maximum advantage from them. The second part presents the directions for the homily, which suggest some reflections drawn from the reading of the Word of God in Sunday assemblies in light of this moment of pilgrimage of the Church towards the two thousandth anniversary of the birth of Christ.

Among the various initiatives by the Argentine bishops also to be noted is the publication of the Course of biblical theology on the theme «The priestly Christology of the letter to the Jews» which the Jesuit Father Albert Vanhoye held during the LXXIV Plenary Assembly of the Argentine Episcopate. Mons. José Luis Mollaghan, Secretary General of the Episcopal Conference, writes that, «studying, reflecting and applying this Christological study centred on the letter to the Jews to pastoral life, was the way our Bishops chose to adhere to the preparation for the Great Jubilee»: knowing the Lord Jesus better will in fact help to love him more and to promptly follow him on the path of the New Evangelisation.
Four simple aids were put together for the Diocese of Chillan (Chile) on as many themes of general interest tied to the Jubilee. The basic structure is the same: they start with a fact of daily life which is used as the basis for a series of questions for which answers are supplied through brief reflections and quotations from the Bible and the Pope's Magisterium. Finally some suggestions are presented for possible group discussion and a brief prayer for the theme in question.

The first aid is entitled «The Year 2000: the meaning of time» seeing as for a Christian the year 2000 has particular significance because they will recall the 2000 years of the incarnation of the Son of God and his birth in the world for the salvation of man: for this reason the Pope has invited everyone to an adequate preparation for this «year of grace». The three points of reflection on the theme refer to the security that God walks beside man throughout his life on earth, the divine and eternal reality which is communicated to us through Jesus Christ, the Christian value of time and its sanctification.
The other publications prepared by the diocese of Chillan deal with the meaning of the Jubilee in the Bible, the Holy Year in the history of the Church, the ministry of reconciliation offered to the humanity of the Church. «Jubilee means joy, happiness, jubilation, because in justice and fraternity peace flourishes and the world becomes like the home in which each of us has food, respect and joy»: these are the reasons for the Jubilee whose roots are in the biblical text and in the profoundly religious soul of the Jewish people. Still today in man's heart is found the desire to live in peace, in a climate of fraternity with everyone, despite the fact that life is often marked by conflicts, violence, attacks against life and people, and each one has his part of responsibility. The Jubilee's invitation is to recognise one's own failings and to decidedly change style of life, to begin with the third millennium «a new and clean page of history».